Equalizer for cable-ropes.



No. 707,8I6. Patented Aug. 26, i902.

W. H. BEEBE. EQUALIZER FOB CABLE ROPES.

(Application filed Nov. 16, 1901*) (No Model.)

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-WALTER H. BEEBE,YOF NEW YORK, N. Y.

EQUALIZER FOR CABLE-RO PES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 707,816, dated AugustrQG, 1902.

Application filed November 16,1901 Serial No. 82,502. (No model.)

To all whom, t may concern:

Be it known that I, WALTER H. BEEBE, a citizen of the United States, residing at the borough of Manhattan, in the city, county, and State of New York, have invented an Improvement in Equalizers for Cable-Ropes, of which the following is a speciiication.

My invention relates to the cable-ropes employed between the car and counterweight of passenger and freight elevators in buildings. Heretofore these ropes have at their ends been connected to the car or counterweight by various devices, such as the ropes passing around a sheave journaled to a yoke secured to the bar of the counterweight, or the ropeswere connected to the ends of a cross-bar secured to the bar of the counterweight, or the ropes were secured directly to separate devices having eyes for connecting-bolts. In most cases clamping devices have been employed to hold the ropes together, and these devices so tied the ropes together as to prevent all freedom of movement. These forms of connection possess the marked and common disadvantage that where one rope stretches perceptibly more Athan the other the strain is not only unequal upon the cables, but one cable carries nearly if not altogether the entire load.

The object of my invention is to overcome these disadvantages and to equalize the strain upon the cables and to give thereto freedom -of movement regardless of the amount of stretch or elongation in either one.

My invention applies especially'to a device where two ropes are employed, and in carrying out the same I make use of a rocker-bar pivotally connected to the yoke secured to the cross-bar of the counterweight or to the elevator-car. The ends of the ropes are provided with socket-heads pivotally connected to opposite ends of a rocker-bar, and I employ guides for maintaining the Wire ropes at a predetermined distance froin one another, and through which guides the ropes freely pass. As 011e rope stretches more than the other the rocker-bar will shift its position with reference to the yoke, swinging more or less upon the bolt connecting the same to the yoke. This movement maintains equal strain upon the cables and at the same time provides for any expansion and contraction incident to changes of temperature and' which may be more manifest in one cable than in the other. The rocker-bar is of peculiar form to permit full movement thereto regardless of its relation to the yoke and the socket-heads of the cables.

In the drawings, Figure lis an elevation representing my improvement. Fig. 2 is a vertical section at 0c a: of Fig. l. Fig. 3 is a plan view of the upper portion, and Fig. 4 a sectional plan at y y of Fig. 1.

The yoke u, has a portion or stem passing through the cross-bar b of the counterweight, and a key l passes through the stem of the yoke below the cross-bar to connect the parts, which are of usual character.

c d represent the cables or Wire ropes connected at their lower ends to socket-heads 2 3 in the usual mannerof connecting such parts, said socket-heads having long strap sides,with openings for the passage of the bolts 4 5, which connect the saine to the rocker-bar e. This rocker-bar e is pivotally. connected by a bolt l2 tothe yoke a, the said socket-heads being connected thereto, as aforesaid, by the bolts 4: 5 and at opposite sides of the yoke a. The yoke may be secured to the cross-bar of the counterweight or the cross-bar of the ele'- Vator-car.

I prefer to make the rocker-bar e, as shown in Fig. l, with rounded lowercorners and rounded upper corners and a concave or depression in the upper edge between the rounded corners. The rounded lower corners provide for freedom of movement of the rockerbar through the yoke ct and the rounded upper corners provide forfreedom of movement through the portions of the socket-heads, and the `depressed central portion of the said rocker-bar in the upper surface provides a space for receiving either of the socket-heads with an extreme movement of the rocker-bar consequent upon the stretch or elongation of one rope or cable, as under these conditions if the upper edge of the rocker -bar was straight the socket-head would strike thereon and be thrown out of position, and the'pull upon the elongated rope would not be direct.

I prefer to employ plates ff', connected by bolts 6 and 11, passing centrally through the same, and by bolts 7 and 8, also passing IOO therethrough and at the same time forming axes for the grooved rollers 9 and 10. plates form a frame between which pass the ropes or cables c d, the same bearing against the concave surfaces of the rollers 9 10 and being keptapart by the bolt 6. I prefer to employ-bars g g', having eyes at their respective/ends, the eyes yat the upper ends passing y,around the bolt 11 at its ends and outside of the plates ff and the eyes at the lower ends of said bars passing around the bolt 12 at its respective ends and outside of the yoke a.

v The frame of plates is thus pivotally connect- Y possible extreme position of the rocker-bar e, the full lines representing the presumed original position of the rocker-bar when an equal strain or weight is upon each rope or cable.

It will be apparent that in this device there is an absolute freedom of movement for either rope or cable to not only compensate for natural expansion and contraction under varying conditions of temperature, but for the movement of either rope or cable where the one stretches under strain more than the other, which freedom of movement makesit possible to maintain an even strain upon both the ropes or cables entirely regardless of the question of stretch or elongation.

With the device of my improvement there is a constant automatically-obtained equalization upon both the ropes, because the ropes are not tied or clamped together, but move freely through the frame of plates between the rollers or equivalent slides and because the rocker-bar and rope-sockets are so made that the rocker-bar can tip to any required extent with the elongation of the rope.

I do not limit myself to the use of grooved rollers between the plates ff', as slide-blocks may be found to answer all requirements.

I claim as my inventionl. The combination with the counterweight or car and two ropes or cables, of a device to which adjacent ends of said ropes or cables are pivotally connected, and a pivotal connection between said device and the counterweight or car, and means substantially as shown and described for holding the said ropes or cables -above and adjacent to their point of connection in a predetermined relation to one These another and at the same time permitting :freedom of movement, substantially as set forth.

2. The combination with the cross-bar of an elevator-car or counterweight, the yoke connected therewith and ropes or cables, of a rocker-bar pivotally connected to the said yoke and devices at the respective ends of the ropes or cables for pivotally connecting the same to the rocker-bar at opposite sides of its pivotal connection to the yoke, and a frame of plates between which the ropes or cables pass, devices between and carried by said frame of plates and against which the cables bear to maintain the cables in a predetermined relation to one another, and means for connecting the said frame of plates tothe aforesaid yoke, substantially as set` forth.

3. The combination with the cross-bar of an elevator-car or counterweight, a yoke connected therewith, a pair of ropes or cables and socket-heads connected to the ends of the ropes or cables and having strap prolongations with eyes, of a rocker-bar and a bolt for centrally and pivotally connecting the rocker-bar to the yoke and bolts for pivotally connecting the strap prolongations of the socket-heads of the ropes or cables to the said rocker-bar at opposite points to its pivotal connection with the yoke, said rocker-bar having rounded corners and a central depression 1n said upper edge between the rounded corners, substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

4. The combination with a cross-bar of an elevator-car or counterweight and the yoke connected therewith, of a rocker-bar and a bolt for pivotally connecting the same centrally to said yoke, ropes or cables, socketheads connected to the ends of the ropes or cables and having prolongations witheyes, bolts for connecting the socket-h ead prolongations to the rocker-bar adjacent to its ends, plates and bolts connecting the same and forming a frame between which said ropes or cables pass, grooved rollers pivotally mounted between said plates and against which the said ropes or cables bear, and bars extending from the said yoke to the said frame of plates connected at one end to the bolt of the yoke to which the rocker-bar is pivoted and at the other end to one of the securing-bolts of the frame of plates, substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

Signed by me this 8th day of November, 1901.

, VALTER H. BEEBE.

Witnesses:

GEO. T. PINOKNEY, BERTHA M. ALLEN.

IOO 

